The ‘How I Met Your Mother’ Season Finale Revealed the Mother; Finally!

At long last, revealed! After months, nay, years of teasing, tonight's 'How I Met Your Mother' season 8 finale finally did the unthinkable and showed us the titular mother face to face! We've still got an entire season of wedding hijinks to go before the big meeting itself, but head inside to finally learn the identity (and actress) of 'How I Met Your Mother's mother! Destiny awaits!

Eight seasons of waiting, and we finally have a face to put to a...mother. That's right 'How I Met Your Mother' finally dropped the big reveal on us, introducing...wait for it...spoilers beware...actress Cristin Milioti as Ted Mosby's bride-to-be! Cue the collective Twitter reaction of...who?

Most would do well to identify Milioti as the lead girl of Broadway's 'Once' adaptation, though the more casual TV viewer would remember Milioti's brief '30 Rock' turn as blonde baby-voiced bimbo in hiding "Abby Flynn" from 2011 episode "TGS Hates Women." Milioti has also appeared in both 'The Good Wife,' 'The Sopranos,' and 'Nurse Jackie.'

Of course, "Something New" spelled out that the final 'How I Met Your Mother' season will most likely take place in the time leading up to Barney and Robin's wedding, ultimately the titular meeting itself, so we should have plenty of time to get to know Cristin Milioti's mother in the coming year. In all likelihood, the last we see of the character until May 2014 won't be a quick shot from a train station.

Well, what say you? Did 'How I Met Your Mother' pay off years of waiting by finally introducing the mother? What can we expect from the final season in 2014? Stay tuned for our full recap, and hit the comments with your thoughts on tonight's big reveal!